Scott Bennett, a former US army psychological warfare officer and counter-terrorism analyst, in San Francisco, described violation of Iran’s territorial water by two US Navy boats as “a false flag intended to bait the Iranians into an act that could be used for US propaganda”.

“The recent report of a US Navy patrol being taken by Iran, is suspicious, and may have been a false flag intended to bait the Iranians into an act that could be used for US propaganda and then use that to serve to Americans at the Presidential State of the Union Address in Washington DC that just occurred,” Bennett told Tasnim on Wednesday.

“It is a story that is quite hard to believe. The claim that the American ‘radio had been turned off’ is quite convenient to allow the American navy to say they never received a message and weren’t tracked until it was too late,” he added.

“This seems suspiciously similar to the Vietnam ‘Gulf of Tonkin’ event,” Bennett said.

He added it was interesting that Representative Tom Cotton has immediately jumped into a condemnation of this act by Iran, without any statement or caution that the US may have been to blame, or in fact may have gone rogue or tried to engage in an aggressive act.

“So Tom Cotton is showing that his agenda is to stop the Iran deal at all costs, and create trauma and fear to do it. The best thing of course would be for Iran to release the American Navy men with gifts, flowers, candy, and invitations to visit Iran through the legal channels, instead of trying to sneak in. Let Iran show the world they are not fool enough to fall into traps, but friendly enough to stand above it,” the American analyst concluded.

The IRGC Navy seized two US Navy combat vessels that had entered Iran’s territorial waters in the Persian Gulf on Tuesday, capturing 10 US sailors.

According to the IRGC Navy Public relations, the seizure took place at 16:30 local time, Tuesday, when the two American combat vessels, with 10 armed sailors on board, entered Iran’s territorial waters near the island of Farsi.

According to the IRGC, the captured US troops, including 9 men and one woman, were treated properly with the Islamic manner, are fully safe and have been transferred to an appropriate location.

Later on Wednesday, the IRGC announced that is has released detained soldiers.

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